MacBook External Monitor Compatibility?

[leog]

I plan on getting a MacBook later this year and would want to hook it up through DVI to a 22" ViewSonic LCD monitor that I have. Would the MacBook's onboard graphics card be able to run my monitor at its native resolution of 1680x1050 (now a very common res for big LCDs)? Would it work immediately or would I need special drivers?

I went through He$$ trying to get it working over VGA on my Compaq laptop and was hoping it would be more of a plug&play type situation with DVI on a new MacBook.

Thanks for any input.

 

[krye]

I plan on getting a MacBook later this year and would want to hook it up through DVI to a 22" ViewSonic LCD monitor that I have. Would the MacBook's onboard graphics card be able to run my monitor at its native resolution of 1680x1050 (now a very common res for big LCDs)? Would it work immediately or would I need special drivers?

I went through He$$ trying to get it working over VGA on my Compaq laptop and was hoping it would be more of a plug&play type situation with DVI on a new MacBook.

Thanks for any input.

It should work, but the resolution is maxed at 1280 x 800 on the Macbook. I have mine on a 30" and 1280 x 800 is the max I get.

 

[Eidorian]

Apple.com has a surprisingly detailed Tech Spec page for the MacBook.

Not to mention that forum search and Google are useful as well.

It should work, but the resolution is maxed at 1280 x 800 on the Macbook. I have mine on a 30" and 1280 x 800 is the max I get.

What's half the resolution of the 30" monitor? 1280 x 800

You're only getting a single link.

In before it's a fourth.

 

[TEG]

I would suggest looking on the tech specs page of the Apple Store. http://www.apple.com/macbook/specs.html shows there is support for 1920x1200.

TEG

 

[kinesin]

Well I can confirm my Macbook (GMA950) model is running my 22" Samsung at 1680x1050 which is the native screen res.
It's a little slow in exposé but maybe the 3100 in the later models in faster.

 

[leog]

kinesin, did you just plug it into DVI and your MacBook auto-detected the native res an output just that? Or did you have to configure things for a while to get it to run right?

I'm really hoping that it's seamless...

As for Apple's published specs for the current macbook, what I read sounded like possible resolutions for the macbook's OWN screen, not a list of supported resolutions for external monitors. Anyone with info on what the 3100 graphics setup is capable of externally please do share.

 

[Eidorian]

As for Apple's published specs for the current macbook, what I read sounded like possible resolutions for the macbook's OWN screen, not a list of supported resolutions for external monitors. Anyone with info on what the 3100 graphics setup is capable of externally please do share.

Extended desktop and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 1920 by 1200 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors

English isn't my first language but this made sense to me on Apple's US site. Are you viewing it in another language? I can understand the problem if their wording is different.

I have a 22" external monitor at 1680 x 1050 over DVI. I just plug it in and Leopard switches my primary display over automatically.

 

[leog]

Thanks, I had been reading the above:
"Supported resolutions: 1280 by 800 (native), 1152 by 720, 1024 by 768, 1024 by 640, 800 by 600, 800 by 500, 720 by 480, and 640 by 480 pixels at 16:10 aspect ratio; 1024 by 768, 800 by 600, and 640 by 480 pixels at 4:3 aspect ratio; 720 by 480 pixels at 3:2 aspect ratio"

Even though my Compaq Laptop now runs my display correctly, it was a nightmare to get it working so I wanted some personal experiences from users who had done it with a MacBook.

Thanks everybody; I'll probably make my purchase after June, when the new models are likely released.